Lately, steel frames for repair or modification have been landing on my doorstep more and more often. This time, it was supposed to be a quick “upgrade” with the addition of cable guides for armored cables and the installation of pivot points for the derailleur levers. In the meantime, the project scope expanded to include the replacement of the rear wheel dropouts.
Imagine my surprise when the frame that arrived turned out to be essentially lacking rear dropouts. This could potentially complicate the operation, as how do you grasp nonexistent geometry to recreate it later?
Oh, the naivety! As it turned out, that was the least of my problems. Since the specimen I was working on was probably made during a Friday shift at ZZR Mesko, there were a few “quirks.” The first of these quirks was the completely unevenly soldered upper dropouts. And when I say unevenly, I mean almost a centimeter of difference! The second problem (or some would say “feature”) was the hinges soldered poorly into the lower dropouts due to dreadful soldering quality. They were basically held together by a single drop of solder and a press fit in the sleeve. They moved around entirely.
As a result, the entire rear triangle had to be cut and rebuilt. The vintage Campagnolo dropouts fit in quite nicely, and with a bit of eyeballing and tool use, the geometry was restored somewhat.
After adding details and patching up several unnecessary holes accumulated over the years, I hope this frame will ride smoothly for another several decades.
The moral for me from such repairs is always the same: it’s incredible how resilient steel frames are (even ones of not the highest quality) and that you can ride them with satisfaction. This one was poorly made, with tubes riddled with holes and practically connected in places by nothing but grease and dirt. Yet it lasted for decades!
